Monday, February 02, 2015

Tom Brady did not win the Super Bowl for New England. Coach Pete Carroll lost the Super Bowl for Seattle.

All Seattle had to do was make a half yard into the end zone in the last 40 seconds of the game to repeat as Super Bowl champions. They had this year's most dominating short yardage back in the NFL. It was second down.

Instead Coach Carroll got cute, called a pass play, the pass was neatly intercepted in traffic--and the game was essentially over.

How many ways can we count that this play was a stupidly wrong call? The likelihood of an interception versus a fumble? The lack of risk involved in a pass defense when an interference penalty would have resulted in meaningless yardage? The time that could conceivably be left on the clock after a touchdown and extra point?

I watched only the fourth quarter, on my computer, and that turned out to be too much. I didn't really much care who won, but a game decided on a play like that is just such a bummer that I regret watching any of it at all.

In another NFL note, Johnny Football (currently on the Browns roster) has reportedly entered "treatment" for an unspecified reason. It's pretty clear from accounts of his behavior that they constitute a textbook pattern of alcoholics. I'd be surprised if that doesn't turn out to be the case.